On Sunday 27 March 2022, Daylight Saving Time begins, and the clocks will jump forward an hour at 1am. Whilst most will be upset that they lose an hour of sleep, some night workers will be pleased that they won’t be expected to work for an extra hour. However, it’s important to consider the wording of the employment contract to understand an employee’s exact entitlements to working time and pay in this situation.
A contract will likely either say that individuals must work 8-hour shifts, or between set hours, for example from 10pm-6am. If employees are guaranteed work for 8 hours, you might have to get their agreement to change their working hours for that shift to 7 hours instead of 8. Otherwise, you could be in breach of their contract by providing them with less hours than required. The available options here would be to pay for the extra hour even though they’re not working or ask them to finish one hour later in the morning, or start one hour earlier at night, to make up for the loss of working time when the clocks change.
On the other hand, if the contract says an employee is required to work between 10pm-6am, they can go home as usual at 6am after only working a 7-hour shift instead of 8. There is no obligation for you, as the employer, to provide an additional hour of work.
The same principles apply when determining what an employee should be paid for this shift; Payment will depend on what is in employment contracts and will usually be based on whether the person is hourly paid or receives a fixed daily rate. If they are paid by the hour, they will likely only need to be paid for the hours actually worked so can be given 1 hour less for the clock change shift. But, if they are salaried or given a day rate, you might have to maintain their usual pay even if they work for less hours.
Employees who are due to begin their shift on Sunday morning after a full night’s sleep (minus one hour, of course), should be reminded in advance to amend their alarm clocks, to ensure they don’t sleep in. Seeing that we are in 2022, most people will likely have smart devices which automatically change the time during the night, but where this is not the case, employees should remember to manually move forward their clock before going to bed, otherwise they might accidently turn up to work one hour late.
Some flexibility with lateness may be allowed in this situation, especially for employees who don’t have a record of tardiness. However, if ample warning has been given, you can treat any lateness or absence in line with usual disciplinary policies and procedures.
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